OCEANSIDE  Tri-City Healthcare District CEO Larry Anderson, one of the state’s highest paid local government employees, is in line for a pay raise at Thursday’s board meeting.

The board will vote whether to award Anderson an increase to his base salary for the second time in less than a year. In December, the board awarded Anderson a 3 percent cost-of-living increase, pushing his base salary to $515,000.

The board’s agenda does not mention a specific percentage increase that Anderson could receive. The board could ultimately decide not to give him any raise at all, said Greg Moser, the board’s attorney.

“Under Larry’s contract, the board is required annually to take a look at his salary, but isn’t required to give him a raise,” Moser said. “That decision rests with the board.”

Anderson was the No. 5 highest paid local-government employee in the state in 2010, according to data from the state controller. The four ahead of him were all health district executives as well.

Before December, Anderson previously received a base-pay raise in November 2010, when the board awarded him an increase from $480,000 to $500,000 and added a bonus option. He received a bonus of $115,000 in August 2011.

The board in 2011 also hired the human resources consulting firm Mercer to perform a study of Anderson’s compensation and incentive-based bonuses. The firm has been working with a board committee to develop a list of goals and objectives Anderson would need to achieve in order to receive incentive bonuses.

Hired in 2009, Anderson oversees a district that spans the cities of Oceanside, Carlsbad and Vista, with a population of 500,000 and a budget of about $350 million.

Several board members have credited Anderson and his executive management team for turning around the hospital’s finances. The hospital posted its first profitable year in 2010-11 after losing as much as $1.5 million a month the previous year.

This year, the hospital expects to post a $7.5 million profit, down from last year’s $15 million.

Tri-City spokeswoman Teresa Connors did not respond to several calls and emails for the administration’s comment on Anderson’s pay.

In 2011, after his bonus was awarded, Anderson commented, “I would say that these jobs ... are among the most complex jobs in America.”

Administrators in the health care sector have seen their compensation increase in recent years. For example, Rady Children’s Hospital CEO Kathleen Sellick was paid $1.3 million in the 2010 fiscal year, up nearly $300,000 from the previous year.

Sharp Memorial Hospital’s CEO Tim Smith saw his compensation increase from $494,000 in 2009 to nearly $602,000 in 2010, according to the hospital’s nonprofit filings.

Both of those are nonprofit organizations. The Palomar Health organization in North County is set up, like Tri-City, as a public health district. Palomar CEO Michael Covert was No. 2 on the statewide ranking in 2010. Covert earlier this year received his first base-pay raise since 2009, a 10 percent bump to $810,000.